Times Like This
by ramenreignss
Summary: After witnessing the Shields decimation at the hands of Evolution, Nikki Bella wants nothing more than to get to her boyfriend, Seth Rollins. But what happens when she's stopped by the Apex Predator himself and she's saved by her ex-boyfriend John Cena? How will an injured Seth react to all of this? [Established Seth/Nikki relationship]


**A/N:** I warned you all that you'd see some weird pairings from me. Regardless, I hope you enjoy! This takes place after 4/14/14 Monday Night Raw. I just did a quick skim over this to check for any grammatical errors, I've probably missed a few.

EDIT: I decided to take a look back and fix any noticeable grammatical errors.

**Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. **

* * *

Nikki held a hand to her mouth as she watched her boyfriend Seth and his teammates Dean, and Roman get beat down by the newly reunited Evolution. First they were put into a fourteen-man handicap match and now this!

She didn't know whether to hit something in her anger or cry. The tears that were burning harshly in her eyes were winning out her strength, however.

Nikki and Seth have been dating for a few months now, but god help her, she loved the man. So, watching him receive such a brutal beating at the hands of their own boss, nonetheless, was hard to stomach. It was the life of a professional wrestler to experience some hard beatings, but this was an absolute decimation!

Sure, the Shield have given out some unfair beatings since coming to the WWE, but that's her boyfriend out there on the receiving end of a brutal punishment, and she couldn't stand it! She needed to be with him.

And there was no Brie here to stop her from doing something stupid.

The Diva ran away from the monitor and towards the gorilla position, uncaring of the people around her or whom she possibly ran in to. All that was on her mind was Seth. She needed to get to him.

She was stopped, however, when a large hand grabbed her forearm. The force of it caused her to be yanked back towards a hard body. The stench of sweat hit her nose and she scrunched it in distaste.

"Where're you going, Miss Bella?"

At the sound of a familiar cocky voice, a rage suddenly filled her. She glared daggers at a smirking Randy Orton. She was surprised Triple H and Batista weren't flanking at his sides.

"Get your damn hands off of me!" She hissed harshly, trying to yank her arm free but he held a firm grip on her. His hand felt disgustingly slimy on her skin.

"Rushing to check on your new boy toy?" The Apex Predator jested arrogantly. "Did you enjoy the show, Nikki? I hope you did, because you're going to be seeing a lot more of that happening to your little boyfriend and his band of pups."

The diva gasped when he roughly pulled her closer to him, his face getting dangerously near hers. She was purely disgusted with this man before her. She wanted nothing more that to slap that horrible look on his face.

"Let go of me right now, Randy." She told him coldly, but her eyes held fear in them. There was no telling what a man like him would do.

"Or what?"

"She said let go of her, Orton!" A voice suddenly bellowed.

Both Nikki and Randy turned to see John Cena making a beeline towards them, eyes narrowed angrily and fists clenched at his sides. He came to stand by the twin, scowling at his former friend.

Luckily, Randy released her arm to which she quickly brought back to her side, rubbing the sore spot.

Though she was free from the Predator's clutches, Nikki was still in a very uncomfortable situation. Being stuck between these two men—the man who helped attack her boyfriend and the man who came to save her who also happened to be her ex-boyfriend.

John and Nikki did not have a good break-up. There had been problems between them months before the final end of their relationship. Like the fact John didn't want to get married again, nor did he want to have children. However, it was Nikki who had fallen in love with another man. She never once cheated on John, but she could at least admit that she had left him for Seth. She didn't guilt herself about it anymore. There was no point to it. She fell in love, and that could hardly be helped.

"Come to save the day, as usual, Superman?" Randy asked mockingly. "Funny you came to _her_ rescue considering she left your ass for a younger man. It's very noble of you, John."

"That's enough, Randy." John snapped, putting himself between the man and Nikki. "What the hell were you thinking putting your hands on her?"

"I've done worse things." Randy seethed, making Nikki shudder a bit. She's seen him do worse. "We were having a simple conversation. Nothing to get your panties in a bunch for."

"That hardly looked like a simple conversation, Randy. You were manhandling her!"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, John. That was nothing. Nothing compared to what I did to her _current_ boyfriend." His almost maniac eyes held mirth in them as they went back onto Nikki. "And what we, Evolution, are going to continue to do."

Something inside Nikki snapped then. With what's happened to Seth and now Randy here running his mouth, she just couldn't take it anymore. She was going to do something so irrational, and as said before there was no Brie there to stop her from doing something stupid.

"You think that's funny?" The woman growled. "You can laugh it up all you want. I laugh too knowing you lost your precious titles to my brother-in-law." Randy's eyes turned dangerously dark, but that didn't stop the diva one bit. "And I'm going to continue laughing when the Shield comes to destroy you and your team of has-beens."

"Nikki, stop." John begged, gently putting a hand on her arm hoping to put an end to her foolishness.

But Nikki Bella was always the hothead, and she hardly ever listened to reason. She stepped closer to Randy, eyes narrowed in a harsh glare. "I hope you're savoring your every breath, Orton, because you won't be breathing for much longer."

With that, Nikki turned on her heel and ran towards the gorilla again. She almost felt bad for leaving John behind with that lunatic, but she had a one-set mind right now and that was to get to Seth.

And when she finally did get to him, she almost burst into tears. Seth and his teammates were limping back with the help of some officials. It broke her heart to witness this.

"Seth!" She called out, rushing over to him.

The two-toned superstar looked up to see his girlfriend sprinting over to him. "Nikki." He breathed out, holding open his arms to her despite his pain.

Gently, she wrapped her arms around his neck and his arms snaked around her waist, bringing her body tightly against his and burying his face into her shoulder. He inhaled her beautiful fragrance and for a split moment, it numbed the pain throughout his body. He never wanted to let her go. He felt her shoulders shake slightly and when he heard her sniffles, he immediately knew what was happening. "Hey, don't cry." He murmured into her shoulder. "Don't cry, beautiful, everything's going to be okay. I promise everything's going to be okay."

It was hard for her to believe that everything was going to be 'okay'. Seth was at war with the Authority. He just had the crap beaten out of him. How could anything be 'okay' after this?

She pulled back slightly to wipe the tears from her eyes, her makeup smudging. "Sorry." She muttered, knowing how much he hated to see her cry. She wanted to be stronger than this. She wanted to be strong like Seth, but seeing the suffering in his eyes was stabbing at her heart.

"Hey," his gloved hands brushed through her hair before cupping her face, "I know everything seems like a mess right now, but we've got this. Everyone kept warning us about retribution, but trust me, there's going to be hell for the Authority to pay come next week."

Nikki nodded in his hands before wrapping her arms around him again and pressing her lips against his. He softly kissed her back.

"Ugh, get a room!" Dean croaked out as he passed by them, holding his side and wincing.

They pulled apart, though they still held each other close.

"Oh, we totally are going to later, Ambrose." Nikki joked, but it was half hearted. A frown remained on her face as she witnessed their struggle to just walk.

"Some things need to stay private, doll." Roman stated, hobbling over to the couple. "And what are we? Chopped liver?" He asked, opening his arms for a hug.

Nikki chuckled softly, wiping at her eyes again before letting go of Seth and moving to embrace the large Samoan. Even before officially dating Seth, she's formed something of a bond with the two other Shield members. She was closer to Roman than she was with Dean, of course. She and the lunatic fringe bantered more while Roman surprisingly became a good friend to talk to. He was quite insightful and always managed to help her out through her dilemmas. She didn't think she and Dean would ever hug it out.

"Hey now, that's a long enough hug." Seth said, tugging gently at Nikki's arm. He was simply teasing, but at the moment he just wanted his girlfriend to be in_ his_ arms. She was a comforting presence and he needed her to hold on to.

* * *

When they finally returned to the hotel, Nikki joined Seth in the shower. There was nothing sexual about it; she simply helped him clean himself so he wouldn't add any strain to his sore bones. Thankfully, the doctor declared no serious injury to any of the men. That didn't mean there were no injuries, however. Seth suffered from bruised ribs and a mild concussion.

Before they left, they were informed that the Authority was giving them the rest of the week off to 'recover' and that they were to return for next Monday Night Raw. To say the guys were pissed was an understatement.

Nikki managed to calm Seth down, though. She didn't know how the other two were handling it.

Currently, she and Seth laid in bed, his fingers playing with her damp hair as her head rested on his shoulder. Her fingertips traced small shapes on his bare chest for he dressed in just his sleeping trunks tonight. It didn't take very long for things to get heated the moment Seth's lips touched Nikki's.

Hands were all over each other, tongues battled it out, their legs tangled together in the heat of passion. It all came to an abrupt end when Seth pulled away wincing and putting a hand to his ribs.

"Okay, we're stopping right now." Nikki declared sitting up. She didn't want to put any more damage on her boyfriend.

"What? No. Nikki, I'm fine." Seth said, trying to pull her back down to him but the Bella twin was adamant now.

"No, Seth. You're injured. You should be resting right now, not doing the hokey pokey with me." She told him fiercely.

He rose an amused eyebrow. "The 'hokey pokey'? I've literally never heard you call sex that and it's weird."

Nikki rolled her eyes. "Well, sorry. I'm a little too stressed right now to come up with something wittier."

Seth pouted tugging at her arm. "Come on, sweetheart. I think I deserve _some_ loving after what happened tonight."

"Seth," she sighed, "I don't want to hurt you."

"You're not going to hurt me. Just some kissing, that's all I want." He pleaded with her, eyes desperate.

She rolled her eyes again. And people said _she_ was the dramatic one. "I doubt that's all you want, but fine. _Just_ kissing." She replied as she bent down to kiss him again.

But then there was a knock on the door.

"Fuck!" Seth cursed in a hiss at the interruption. "I swear to god if that's one of the guys I'm going to kill them."

Nikki shook her head in amusement. "Seth, please." She kissed his nose quickly. "I'll get rid of whoever it is. Don't you worry your pretty little two-toned head over it."

She hopped off the bed and quickly went to retrieve a robe from the bathroom. She was only dressed in one of Seth's 'Hounds of Justice' t-shirts. Tying the knot around the door, she went to open the door without looking to see who it was.

She immediately regretted that decision, because it was the one and only John Cena standing outside of their hotel room.

Nikki's eyes were wide and her whole body went rigid at the sight of her ex-boyfriend. Despite the fact that he helped her out earlier in the evening, she wasn't very pleased to see him. The last time he and Seth were within each other's vicinity, it was right after she broke up with John and it turned into a brawl. It had taken six WWE superstars to separate the two. The absolute last thing Seth needed was another fight right now.

"John," she said lowly, "what are you doing here?"

"I just came to make sure that you were alright." John replied, looking at her with concern. He had been heartbroken when Nikki had left him for another man, and in a way he blamed himself for it, but there was always going to be a part of him that still cared about her. A part of him that still wanted to keep her safe.

Nikki appreciated his concern. She truly did, but she wished that he would have waited and sought her out privately in the next arena. He knew that Seth was going to be in here with her, and he knew he wouldn't be happy to see John.

"I appreciate that, but—"

"Nikki, who is it?"

Seth had gotten up from the bed and walked towards the door when he heard Nikki whispering to someone. He stopped short when she had turned to face him, revealing John Cena outside their hotel room. Suddenly, his fists clenched and his muscles tensed. He didn't care about the pain. He was pissed.

"What the _hell_ are you doing here, Cena?" He growled at the man, prepared for a fight.

"Seth, please calm down." Nikki pleaded with her boyfriend. She could see how tense he was and that certainly wasn't helping his condition.

John held up his hands in a peaceful manner. "I'm not here to start any trouble, Rollins. I just came to check up on Nikki."

That didn't ease any of Seth's anger. In fact, it only added wood to the fire. "Why would you need to check up on her?"

A silence filled the room and Nikki mentally slapped herself. She hadn't told Seth about her encounter with Randy Orton. One, because she was far too concerned about his wellbeing at the moment. Two, because she knew it would infuriate him and possibly make him do something irrational like seek out Randy for a fight.

The silence was suffocating him. Something was going on, and Seth wasn't too keen on the possibility that Nikki and her ex-boyfriend were keeping something from him. "What is going on?" He posed the question to Nikki, trying to remain calm but his patience was wearing thin.

"You didn't tell him?" John asked before Nikki could answer.

Seth's eyes blazed with rage. "Tell me what?"

Nikki turned to John, irritation clear in her expression. She didn't need him to come here and cause trouble between her and Seth, whether it be unintentional or not. "Thank you for coming to check on me, John. Really, I do appreciate that. I'm fine, but you have to go now."

John's eyes darted between his ex-girlfriend and her angered boyfriend. He was hesitant to leave her here when Seth was so enraged, but he knew that if he didn't leave now only more problems would arise. So, he nodded, "Alright. Take care of yourself, Nikki." With that he walked away.

Nikki closed the door before slowly turning to face a beyond irritated Seth. Well, there went the relaxing evening.

"Nikki," Seth's voice was deep with vexation, "what was that about?"

She sighed deeply, stepping closer to him. Seth could be frightening when he was angry but she knew he would never harm her. He would physically wound himself before he ever hurt her. "Promise me you won't get mad."

"I'm already mad." He stated, but he forced himself to relax his muscles. He was even sorer now.

Nikki frowned, running a hand through her hair. She knew what she was about to tell him wasn't going to keep him relaxed. She knew it would only make him even more enraged. But it had to be said now.

"When I was coming to you at the gorilla, someone stopped me." She paused a moment, her nerves making her play with rope around her robe. She took a deep breath. She needed to get this out now. "It was Randy Orton."

"What!?" Seth practically shouted, infuriated that Orton had the audacity to go anywhere near his girlfriend tonight, let alone any time.

"Seth, please! You're going to hurt yourself!" Nikki exclaimed seeing his whole body stiff again.

"I don't care!" He yelled unintentionally. "What did he do? What did he say to you? Nikki, I need to know everything that happened."

"Seth, I'm not telling you anything until you calm down!" She told him adamantly. "Go sit on the bed, and _relax_, and then I will tell you everything. I'm not going to have you hurting yourself even more over this freaking crap."

Seth was livid. He wanted nothing more than to hunt Orton down and beat him to a bloody pulp. But he needed answers, and he knew he wasn't going to get any unless he did as Nikki said. Tensely, he sat on the bed, fists clenched at his sides and eyes narrowed at his girlfriend. "I don't think I'm going to be able to untense for awhile, so this is the best I can give you."

Although that upset her, Nikki knew this was in fact the best she was going to get. She stood in front of Seth, hands entwined at her stomach. "I was rushing to get back to you when he grabbed me."

"He grabbed you!"

"Seth, if you keep doing that I'm not going to tell you a damn thing." Nikki snapped, irritated. If he wanted to know everything then he needed to not interrupt her. "Yes, he grabbed me and—and well, he just started saying some mocking things to me. You know how Orton is. He was trying to get a reaction out of me. I told him to let go of me and he wouldn't. That's when John came in." She paused a moment, gauging Seth's reaction. He didn't seem happy about it, but he didn't seem enraged by it either. "He got Randy to let go of me. Then Randy started talking trash, as usual."

Seth looked up at his girlfriend, frowning deeply. It irked him that Orton did such a thing, but he felt like this wasn't the whole story. He felt like Nikki was leaving something out. "There's more to this, isn't there?"

She chewed on her bottom lip. She was hoping to leave out the part where she talked trash back at Orton, but Seth always knew when she wasn't telling the full truth. He read her like an open book.

"Well," she started, shifting on her feet, "I may or may not have talked some trash back at him."

Seth's brows shot up. It wasn't uncommon knowledge that Nikki could throw some shade, but he didn't think she'd do it to the likes of Randy Orton. The guy could be unpredictable, and he has attacked women before. That knowledge unsettled him.

"You—ugh, you got yourself involved?" He groaned, even more displeased with this situation now. It definitely didn't help the fact that it was _John Cena_ who came to her rescue. It should have been _him_. He's her boyfriend!

"_He's_ the one who grabbed _me_!" Nikki defended herself. "I didn't tell him to grab me and start saying nasty shit to me."

"I know that you didn't, Nicole." He used her full name, as he usually did when he was upset with her. "But you could have just walked away. I didn't want you to get involved in any of this crap."

Nikki's jaw almost dropped. Was he serious, right now? "Seth, I'm your girlfriend. I'm going to somehow get involved in this whether either of us like it or not."

His heart plummeted into his stomach. She was right. She was absolutely right. It suddenly dawned on him that his actions against the Authority affected his girlfriend, too. He supposed he always knew that, actually, he just never really thought it through. They could punish Nikki for his and his teammates actions. He wasn't used to having to worry about someone else. It had always just been him, Dean, and Roman doing whatever they wanted.

"Fuck," he cursed, falling back on the bed, "I'm a fucking idiot."

Nikki tilted her head before climbing onto the bed, sitting next to her boyfriend Indian style, looking down at him with a frown. "What makes you say that?"

Seth looked up at her incredulously. "Nikki, you just said it. You're going to get involved somehow and I didn't think that through before we started this feud with the Authority. You're involved simply because you're my girlfriend."

She frowned, brushing some hair from his face. "So, what?"

"'So, what'? Nicole they could punish you for whatever the Shield does. They could make an example of you and try to use you against us." Seth replied, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Hey now, stop that." She told him, taking his hand from his face and holding it in her own. "Look at what's happened to Daniel Bryan. My sister was engaged and now married to him. They never laid a hand on her. Sure, Orton at one point said some bad things to her, but never once did anyone in the Authority lay a hand on Brie."

"Brie also never back talked any of them." Seth countered, giving her hand a light squeeze.

Nikki rolled her eyes. "Look, everyone knows how I am. I talk back. It's my thing. Randy's the one who started it."

"This isn't elementary school, Nicole. I don't think they're going to care who started it." He said, his free hand reaching up to cup her cheek. "Just promise me that you won't say anything back to any of them from now on. Stay out of trouble."

"Oh, so only you and you're friends are allowed to start trouble?" She quipped, hoping to put him in a better mood.

It was sort of working.

"Promise me." He demanded in a softer tone, his eyes warmly boring into hers.

Who was she to resist that face?

"Okay, okay, fine. I promise." She whined, pouting childishly at him. "Can we go back to making out now?"

Seth finally let out a soft laugh. "Of course, of course." He said bringing her face down to his. "But first, tell me what you said to Orton."

"Really?" Nikki complained. She just wanted to kiss him senseless right now, but at his eager nod she knew he wouldn't let it go until she told him. "Okay, here's the direct quote: 'I hope you're savoring your every breath, Orton, because you won't be breathing for much longer.'"

Seth smirked, "That's my girl." He said before crushing his lips against hers.

For the moment, everything was okay. The future didn't matter, it was only them. When the time came, Seth would protect Nikki with everything they had. If the Authority ever had the audacity to hurt his girl, they would certainly rue the day.

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**Please, review! I'd love to know what you thought.**


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